motivation

It’s THURSDAY….which means it’s almost FRIDAY….and that means the weekend is almost upon us. Can you tell I’m excited?

This week has been weird. I feel a little off and the pressure seems to be “on”. I know it will pass, but it’s definitely brought out the introvert in me. Hopefully all my friends and co-workers won’t hate me for being so stand-offish this week. 😀

Yesterday, I had a small window to workout and decided to make the most of it. I wrote the workout down and immediately knew it was going to be really tough and I wouldn’t be getting much rest (due to my time constraint). I went into my “mode” and just worked through it. Here’s what I did:

This workout was tough! If you want to try it with some modifications, just leave a comment. 🙂

In other news, I may have mentioned that one of the trainers at my gym is entered into a competition to be Santa Monica’s Best Personal Trainer! We have a competition on October 18th, and I’m one of the people she’s training. We took some video the other day as a sneak-peek of what we’re doing. Video is below!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Stay tuned Friday for the answers to my Ask Me Anything post! There’s still time to get some of your questions in. (And thank you to those that e-mailed me your questions! I’ll be answering those as well! :-))

I’m just sitting at home waiting for the pest control guy. Fun stuff! We’ve had a ridiculous ant problem for the last two weeks and we FINALLY got someone to come out and fix the problem. It’s been quite a nightmare. Let’s just say, I’m a pro ant-annihilator at this point. -_-

In other news, I found a new protein powder that I’m excited to try called SLAP. I actually ended up buying the entire stack of supplements, which is just L-Glutamine, Whey Isolate Protein Powder, and a Coffee Pre-Workout supplement. I was intrigued by the company because of the minimal and clean ingredients in all of their products. The protein powder is sweetened with Stevia (score!) and doesn’t have any artificial ingredients. I haven’t tasted it yet, but I’ll be sure to let you all know how it is!

Workouts for the Week

I’m still super sore from Sunday’s Leg Insanity, but overall I’m feeling really good and still “on” my game!

Here are my workout plans for this week:

Monday:20 min. HIIT + Chest/Triceps (DONE)

Tuesday: Boxing

Wednesday:Legs + Bouldering (yup! Haven’t done that in a while!)

Thursday: Shoulders/Abs + Boxing

Friday: Full Body

Saturday: Back/Bi’s

Sunday: REST

Finally…I’m thinking about getting a Brazilian blow out. I NEVER feel like/have time to do my hair and it just ends up being kind of a mess. Anyone ever had one? I’ve heard the chemicals can be kind of harsh, so I’m curious. Let me know your experiences!

This weekend actually felt quite long (not that I’m complaining), so I feel good and refreshed coming into this week. Here’s some of the fun I had:

Saturday, I took a boxing class in the morning. It was quite the sweat session! There were 3 instructors bringing the pain for an hour. Even though it was tough, I had a blast. Can’t wait for tomorrow night’s class!

After we showered up, I decided to get a my hair blown out before we headed to a music festival. It wasn’t a fancy festival or anything, but I just didn’t feel like doing my hair. -_-

Guys…I’m SUPER lazy with my hair. I either let it air dry or put it up in a top knot. I have SO much hair and it’s wavy/frizzy, so it can be a pain in the ass. Anyways, once my hair was all done and pretty, and since I knew I’d actually be wearing NPC (normal-people-clothes) instead of gym clothes, I decided to do my makeup too! (Call it a national holiday! Alert the press!)

We then headed out to the Eagle Rock Music Festival. It had promise, but ended up being somewhat of a fail. The vibe was really cool and very family-oriented, but the music was just meh. There were a LOT of DJ’s (not my thing…and I can’t understand what is entertaining about watching someone stand in one place pushing buttons on a laptop and turning discs….but I digress) and the only decent bands were playing in acoustically untreated buildings = muddy musical mess. We did see one latino band that was totally not my style of music, but TOTALLY GOOD. Had we known what the rest of our options were, we definitely would have stayed and watched them longer.

People standing around watching a DJ….I DON’T GET IT. WHAT IS THERE TO SEE?!

Sunday, we headed to the batting cages to hit some balls. As many of you know, I played on the guys’ baseball team growing up, so I love getting chances to play! Happy to know, I’ve still got it!

We watched a little bit of the Chiefs game, and then I headed to the sauna gym for a workout. We’re going through a major heatwave (…didn’t I move from AZ to get away from that?!), so the temps have been quite ridiculous. Like, 97 in Santa Monica ridiculous!

I may or may not have walked out of the gym looking like I just jumped off a horse. As always, check with a doc before starting any new exercise routine. Use weights you’re comfortable with. I posted mine for reference, but you should do what is best for YOU.

Hope you guys have a great rest of your day! I’ll be back tomorrow with some more workouts for the week.

Be sure to check out my Ask Me Anything post and leave a comment with any questions you may have! I’ll be answering them all this week on the blog!

Question of the Day

1. What is the weather like in your part of the world? Still summer-like? Fall? Winter-y?

It’s crazy. Those who have been working out for a long time can understand. You go through time periods where you’re just REALLY on your game. Killing your workouts, pushing harder than ever, and really “digging in”. I feel like I’m in one of those phases and I’m loving it! I’m super sore and have been feeling muscles I didn’t know existed lately. That says a lot for someone who’s been training for 7 years (can’t believe it’s been that long!).

I did a back workout on Saturday that I’m STILL sore from and a leg workout last WEDNESDAY that left me sore clear through Monday. I’ll take it! I feel on, I feel good, my head’s in the game. (The results are showing, too!)

I still get people that ask me all the time “what are you training for?” I’m not entirely sure how to respond. It’s hard to explain the competitions that I compete in, in my head. (Haha, yes I’m crazy!) I try to explain it, but most people don’t get it. I train like I’m training for something, but the only something I’m training for is myself. I train to get better every day. I train to prove to myself that I can do it. I train to see progress. I also want to show the rest of the world the impact of training. Maybe MY form of training isn’t right for you, but SOME form probably is. Whether that’s hiking, biking, rock climbing, running, or whatever it might be….there’s something for everyone. It builds mental strength in ways nothing else can. I know that the reason I push so hard and am so efficient, goal-oriented, and well-rounded with my work is because of the training I do at the gym. I treat my work, like I treat my workouts: I’m there to kick ass. I’m not there to putz around. Working out is the one thing in life that nobody can do for you. You can get help with just about anything these days…..but nobody can workout for you. If you take that attitude with you to work, I think you’ll be amazed at how your productivity and success comes to fruition. I am a more confident, go-getting person than I was before I started working out and I am thankful that I fell into Lifts Studio back in 2007 and started this whole “working out” thing.

I’ll step off my soap box now. I get going and just can’t stop!

What I Ate Yesterday

People love to see what other people eat. I’m guilty too. Sweet potatoes are always sweeter on someone else’s plate, right?! 😀

Here’s what I ate:

Breakfast:Quest Bar + Coffee + Apple (had a late start and was out of eggs :-()

(I definitely had a 2nd coffee too, but I don’t remember when it was?? LOL)

Dinner:Chicken Breast w/ Wing Sauce (umm…I may or may not have eaten this for dinner every night for the last 2 weeks! OBSESSED) + Green Beans

After-Dinner Snack: 1 Peach & some grapes!! (I LOVE GRAPES)

Kind of a weird day of eating, but then again I’m kind of a weird girl. I am super busy during the day and sometimes it catches up to me and I realize I haven’t eaten enough. I usually end up making up for it over the weekend though (frozen yogurt? YES PLEASE).

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your Wednesday! It’s Leg day for me…..wish me luck!

I’m working away, but already thinking about the weekend ahead. I’ve got some fun plans for Saturday! A group of friends from the gym are going to Mt. Baldy to do a hike. I’ve never been there, so I’m excited to do it! I haven’t been on an adventure in a while, it seems, so I’m more than ready for a break from L.A. I love this place, but it wears on you sometimes. A day or two somewhere quiet should do my body good. 😉

Chasing the ONE

I took a boxing class Tuesday night at ABA. It’s the boxing gym in the basement of the gym I work at. I have been going once a week for the last 6 weeks or so, and am loving it. I feel like I’m catching onto the combos and getting stronger/faster. I’ve always been able to hit really hard, but when you add in the moving parts and doing it QUICKLY, it can get tough and make your head spin. (fo’ real, they call out combos FAST down there).

Anyways, last night’s class was small…..and small classes mean more work time. The class is set up with 4 stations: mitt-work, bicycling, plyometrics, and heavy bags. Since we didn’t have many people last night, we skipped the heavy bags and just worked through the other 3 stations as many times as we could in an hour.

Hitting the mitts is definitely my favorite because you really feel like a bad-ass-mo-fo-boxer when you do it (or maybe it’s just me?). It’s about 3 minutes of hitting the mitts with a trained instructor that is calling out all types of combos for you to do. An example would be “2,3,2, double hook, catch left, double hook, up 4”. May not seem that hard, but what that means is a right punch, left hook, right punch, double left hook, catch left (they hit you), double left hook, 4 upper cuts, left hook, right punch. These are all being called out WHILE YOU’RE HITTING, so you really have to be on top of your mental game. You don’t exactly get time to think about it! 🙂

It’s such a BLAST, but last night I was hitting a wall physically. Towards the end of each round, I just felt like I had nothing left. I was giving it my all, and punching as hard as I could, but at the same time I was just becoming fatigued and my punches had less and less power as time went on. The instructor that I was hitting with would NOT let me quit. In fact, when I started to break down and hit softer, he made me do MORE and kept me going in order to make me push harder. I truly thought there was NOTHING left in the tank, but he wouldn’t let me quit. He kept yelling “come on Lizzy, HIT HARDER, Let’s go GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT, HIT HARDER!”. This actually happened in two separate rounds and whattayaknow……I was able to give it more. I hit harder, I grunted, and I just pushed through as much as possible. (I secretly also thought I was going to die, but that’s besides the point) 😉

I left class feeling amazing. Feeling like every ounce of energy I had was put into that class. It reminded me that while, yes, I push myself really hard on my own, it doesn’t compete with having someone to help push you even further. You might think you can’t (just like I did), but you CAN. The motivation to do MORE in class was just what I needed. Oddly enough, that motivation spilled into my work day on Wednesday and I had a kick-ass-get-it-done kind of day.

My point in telling you this story is that I’m CONSTANTLY asked where I get the motivation for my workouts, but RARELY asked where I get the motivation to work as hard as I do at my jobs. While, yes, I’m self-motivated, do you think I just have some kind of motivation machine sitting in my stomach pumping out motivation??????? Hell no!!!!

So then why do I seem to be self-motivated? It’s because I am constantly SEEKING motivation. Whether that be by going to a class where I know the instructor is going to push me, or watching a video online that inspires me to go lift heavy shit and take names while I’m doing it, it’s all encompassing. I’m constantly searching for the kindle to my fire. I know that if I STOP doing that, I’m going to lose the flame. Even on the days that I don’t want to search for motivation and feel the complete opposite, I still know I need to try.

So how exactly does that relate to work-life? It’s the spill-over effect. A cycle, if you will.

By getting motivated for fitness, I accomplish and achieve success in the gym.

By achieving success and feeling accomplished, I get heightened endorphins and the feeling of knowing I proved I was better than I thought.

When I then go to work, those feelings are still there! I end up getting a ton of stuff done and come up with tons of new ideas. (This is one of many reasons that I like to take a break in the middle of the day for a quick workout. It’s idea fuel, get-er-done propane.) Ya feel me?

I’ve alway said working out changed my life, but until you fully experience it yourself, it’s really hard to convey just how life-changing it is. Breaking through mental and physical barriers in the weight room, on the track, in a rock climbing gym, at the yoga studio, or wherever it might be WILL transfer into your everyday life. It takes hard work, consistency, dedication, PATIENCE, and the drive to do better. Lift more than you did last week, run farther than you ever have before. Knowing that not every day is a life-changing, break-through workout, and that some days it’s going to SUCK and you’re going to FAIL. But it’s when you get that ONE…..that ONE workout that makes you just feel like you’re on top of the world and nothing can touch you. It’s that ONE that makes it fucking worth it.

For me, it’s lifting weights and doing high intensity work outs, but whether it’s lifting weights, working on inversions in yoga, or running a marathon, it’s what resonates with YOU. I challenge each of you to go out and find what it is that you like to do. You don’t have to like it every time you do it, you just have to like it enough that you’ll keep trying. And I promise that if you DO keep trying……you’ll get that one….and just like a drug, you’ll continue to keep chasing that one down until you experience it again…..and trust me….you will.

Woah!! A whole week without a single post. Not even a friendly hello. What kind of a person am I?!

Hey friends!!! I’M BACK!!

Sorry for the disappearance there. I’ve been prepping for an event this Friday, along with my regular work duties, so I’ve just been a little drained lately. I kept sitting down to write and I just decided to take that time to relax instead. Forgive me 🙂

Now that I’m a little bit more caught up, I thought I’d stop by and give you a quick update.

I know I said May 1st (which is when I’m planning my FULL release), but it is up and ready, so why hold back from my AWESOME readers?!

If you don’t have a kindle, you can download the Kindle app on your iPhone, Android, or iPad too!

Here’s what the description says:

10 Great Workouts you can do WHEREVER, WHENEVER!!

Do you love traveling but hate missing your workouts or getting out of your fitness routine? You don’t have to worry about that ever again!

Imagine going on your next work trip or family vacation and not having to search for a gym in a city you don’t know, spend hours away from relatives and co-workers just to get your workout in, or wasting money on ridiculously priced day passes!!

Fit Lizzio’s Fitness To Go solves it all! Bring your workouts ANYWHERE you go! With this 10 page e-book, you can stay fit wherever you are! These 10 workouts can be done in your hotel room, grandma’s living room, or at the park!

My workouts this week were nothing crazy, but that’s just how it is sometimes. I can definitely tell you, I had to WORK myself into the gym most days this week. It truly does not come easy to me all the time. I almost skipped climbing on Monday and almost skipped boxing on Tuesday. But I just went. Grumbling the whole way. And guess what? I survived, it turned out to be awesome, and I’m happy I went. Wasn’t easy though!

I say this to tell you guys, WE ALL GO THROUGH IT. People act like I’m just always ON my game and I don’t go through the feelings of just wanting to be lazy and not work out. I’m not bionic guys. Trust me…I almost walked out of boxing a few times Tuesday night. Seriously. But I knew I’d feel MUCH worse if I walked out than if I just stayed and toughed out the class. I was right. I ended up getting great workouts even though I was dreading almost all of them.

Like I, (and everyone else), always say…..90% is just SHOWING UP. Just put on your workout clothes…GET TO THE GYM (or park or garage or wherever you do your workouts). Just START. Chances are that once you actually get going, it won’t be too bad. There ARE times when it is okay to rest. When you’re too sore, haven’t slept enough, need to relax…..but we all know the difference. Sometimes, you just have to push yourself.

Thanks for sticking around with my less than stellar blogging schedule this week! I promise things will go back to normal and you can read my rambling on a more regular basis. 😀

Being in the fitness industry for the last 6-7 years of my life, I tend to be the go-to person at parties,get-togethers,bathrooms (for real), you name it –when it comes to questions about working out and eating right. I’m TOTALLY okay with that, because I LOVE to talk about it and helping others brings me SO much joy! Hello, I have an entire BLOG about it and LIVE it every day!

Now, what DOES get a bit frustrating is when I stand there excitedly giving people advice and options as to what they can do, and they IMMEDIATELY come back at me with why that JUST isn’t possible for them. I’m tired of hearing that you don’t have time, that you can’t do *this* because it hurts your *that* (barring serious injuries, it is usually something that can be modified very easily!), that healthy food is gross, that it’s too expensive, you don’t have a gym membership, blah blah blahdeefrickinblah! Let me fill you all in on a little secret:

You don’t need to rearrange your life in order to have a healthy one! There is this notion that in order to be healthy you have to “go to the gym a lot and eat vegetables all the time.” You don’t. You just don’t. I truly believe that ANYONE and EVERYONE can lead a healthy lifestyle.

Now to make this clear, I don’t think everyone needs to be like me. I realize that I’m not the norm. For heaven’s sake, I LIKE BURPEES. IT ISN’T NORMAL. I crave vegetables and eat them in massive quantities for “fun”. While that is me, I realize that not everyone is that and you absolutely DO NOT have to be anything close to that. I believe everyone can live a healthy and active life by making SIMPLE and SMALL changes. You don’t have to give up your favorite foods and you don’t have to become a slave to the gym. I actually would steer you a different direction if that’s where you were headed!

Let me tell you a little story about someone very close to me: my boyfriend Charlie. I always use Charlie as the perfect example of someone who has had the effect of a changed life without actually changing their life around.

When I met Charlie, his habits were very typical of an American. He ate fast food for most meals (McDonalds was a go-to), M&M’s and Famous Amos cookies for a snack, and save for the random hike here and there, he was pretty sedentary. I had no intentions of trying to change him into some health nut or workout freak and I still don’t. That’s not him and that is totally okay.

Charlie knew that his lifestyle wasn’t very healthy and wanted to change it, but, like SO many others, he wasn’t quite sure what to do. In his head, you had to eat broccoli all day if you wanted to be healthy. Aside from the perceived awfulness of a healthy diet, he’s also very stubborn. To him, working out was something he just didn’t have time for. He, once again, perceived this as something that would easily take 2-3 hours out of his day, which was just not possible. He works A LOT and if being healthy meant interfering with his work and passion, it was likely going to last about .543 seconds. I remember the first time I suggested that he try brown rice instead of white rice. I’m pretty sure he considered running away from me and never speaking to me again. (Glad you didn’t, babe). I might as well have insulted Star Wars!!(FYI: You can lose limbs for that kind of talk around this house….) I knew then that this wouldn’t be easy, but I was willing to help and be patient with him since I knew, ultimately, he wanted to be a healthier person. It took me reminding myself that not everyone is like me. I LOVE the gym, LOVE the sweat, WANT to workout, LOVE eating healthy (don’t get me wrong, I love other foods that aren’t so healthy, but for the most part, I like food that makes me feel good), so it isn’t as hard for me to motivate myself to go do those things. Not everyone feels that way about it, and that is completely okay. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

I tell you this because with some small changes here and there, Charlie has become a pretty healthy person!

These days, Charlie eats brown rice, whole wheat pasta, lean meats, fruit, vegetables, and minimally processed foods (by choice and taste), snacks on Greek Yogurt (and loves it more than anyone I know!!), eats balanced meals on the regular (his former lunch of a #2 at McDonald’s has now become a chicken, brown rice, and vegetable bowl at Chipotle), checks ingredients on packages before eating anything (he’s more obsessed than I am on this!!) and he works out with me at least 1-2 times per week. His life has not been overhauled, his schedule has not been compromised, and he does this all by choice. YES, he still eats sweets and junk food. But he does it on occasion, not on the regular. I absolutely support and encourage him, but if he didn’t want to eat healthier and BE healthier, he’d still be eating a steady diet of Taco Bell Double Deckers. He now tells me that on the very rare occasions that he does eat fast food, he instantly feels like garbage and never wants to eat it again. He can’t even believe he used to live on that stuff! (Hell, I did too in high school! Not sure how I even functioned! Teenager cells, I guess.) Charlie will still eat his beloved M&M’s and Milky Ways on occasion, and he will NEVER say no to a milkshake (although, thankfully, he isn’t offered one very often ;-).) This is all just to say, you CAN have your cake and eat it too. Just not all the time. (I’ll be the first to admit that on a weekly basis, SOME type of candy will be consumed by me.)

My point in highlighting Charlie’s story is to show you that it CAN be done by anyone. Even if you’re not trying to be a “health freak” (yeah, I know what you guys say about us!!!!), you are still capable of leading a VERY healthy life. I repeat, it does NOT have to completely change your life. You can still eat the foods you love and do the things you love. It is the LITTLE changes that really add up and that is what you have to remember. Charlie and I still eat frozen yogurt (hey, maybe sometimes we I might even maybe, kinda, sorta, eat it twice in one day like last Saturday), get burgers, share endless bowls of chips and salsa, and thoroughly enjoy our food. Deprivation is NOT in our vocabulary. Moderation is.

So what are some lifestyle principles that we live by?

1. Moderation. We don’t eat frozen yogurt and burgers every day. It’s usually a once a week type of thing. (If, hypothetically, you DO get it twice in one day, it still counts as once a week since it was just one day of that week….right?!?!?!)

2. When we are craving a burger or something that is typically deemed “unhealthy”, we choose better ingredients. As I mentioned in this post, Burger Lounge is our go-to because of the ingredients they use. Charlie gets a grass-fed beef burger and I get a free-range turkey burger. No fake, fatty meat and no factory farms. Basically, we try to eat at restaurants that offer a better quality, when available. When it comes to something like chips and salsa, we buy chips that have very few ingredients and ingredients that we can actually recognize, and get salsa using the same standards.

3. We make it at home. For example, instead of eating sodium-laden Chipotle all the time, we make it at home for dinner several times per week. This allows us to control our ingredients so we know what we’re putting into our bodies. Organic Chicken, Brown Rice, Organic Bell Peppers, Half-Sodium Black Beans, Mexican Cheese (we buy any brand that doesn’t have any weird preservatives. This can be tough, so if you’re able to go to a health food store for this, I highly recommend it. The Ralph’s near us only has ONE brand that doesn’t have a bunch of fillers in it), and Hot Sauce. We both agree that it is actually BETTER than Chipotle.

4. Our workouts typically last 20-25 minutes. Sure, sometimes we do longer workouts, but I absolutely 100% guarantee that you can get a fantastic workout in with only a 15-20 minute window to work with. Sometimes they don’t even require ANY equipment at all! (In fact, I’ll be releasing an e-book in the next few months that will give you PAGES of quick, equipment-less, workouts that will have you mopping your sweat off the floor in under 30 minutes.)

As you can see, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Even deciding to make ONE small change to your health can have a huge impact. It’s the exact reason why the plethora of excuses drives me crazy. I can’t express enough that you don’t have to go Biggest Loser style and workout 5 hours a day while eating 1200 calories of fake food to lose weight or be healthy. You have to care about your health and make the attempt to make small changes.

I’m HAPPY to answer any questions you guys have. Leave me comments on here or on Facebook and tell me your biggest problems with making healthier choices. I’ll do my best to help you solve them. I believe EVERYONE can live a healthier life without sacrifice. Let me help you on your way to yours!